Mar 3, 2014

A healthier twist on a Cajun classic, the addition of shrimp turns this into a fabulous main dish. I'd like to think of this as a Cajun shrimp fried rice. With Mardi Gras ends tomorrow, I thought this would be the perfect timing to share this recipe from the archives because I LOVE this dish!

Dirty rice is a classic Cajun dish made "dirty" by cooking the rice with minced livers or gizzards. I created a healthier version using brown rice and lean ground beef in place of the chicken livers that normally make dirty rice "dirty".

But don't worry, this healthier version does not skimp on flavor! It has plenty of spices and a bit of kick, you can adjust the heat to your taste but don't be shy with the cayenne if you can handle it!

Normally a rice dish like this if made with white rice would be cooked all in one pot, but after several attempts to perfect this I found that cooking the brown rice all together created an unpleasant mushy texture. By cooking the brown rice separate, the texture of the rice was perfect when mixed with the beef and shrimp and made a delicious main dish even my "non-brown rice eating" husband enjoyed.

Can you get the lean ground beef at your butcher counter and order exactly what is needed or a little less? That is what I do and it is usually only a couple dollars and I can spread it out to last 2 meals.

Use a salad spinner to get the fat out from cooked beef. Brown your ground beef like normal, then drain into a metal strainer or something that can take the heat. After it cools some ( able to touch ) then put in a salad spinner, spin as much as your arm will allow. You would be amazed how much fat will get out.

Just an FYI. On the new WW points, in this amount 93% is no more points. I thought there used to be more of a difference, on the old point system. I don't even bother with the 95 or 96% anymore based on points.

This looks fantastic. Can't wait to try it. Quick question: Even though you are using lean ground beef, do you need to drain the fat off before adding the Shrimp? Not sure how much will be in the pan with only a 1/2 pound.BTW - LOVE your site and the recipes. Both hubby and I have recently joined WW and we have already made several dishes. All tasty and healthy!

I started WW online about 3 weeks ago. I found out about this site after reading a post on the WW site. I must say this site has tons of recipe options with GREAT pictures and step by step instructions. I LOVE THIS SITE. The next step is to actually prepare some of the recipes.

Hillary, yes ground turkey is fine. I've even used ground soy crumbles. Just remember to add a tablespoon of olive oil because both ground soy and turkey are fat free meats and the resulting dish can turn out very dry.

You should be able to make this with faux-beef (feef?) crumbles if you want to skip on the beef. I've done a similar recipe for a vegetarian potluck (without the shrimp, though), and it turned out really well. A tiny bit of ground sausage would also work if you just aren't a fan of beef.

You could also grind your own meat to get it even leaner. Thats what I do. I buy really lean steaks, cut off all the fat then grind it. My ground beef is always super lean and it's cheaper then buying the 96% or even the 93% sometimes.

Made this dish tonight and a sub turkey for the beef...actually turned out really good. Spicy thought..very spicy.Oh I omitted the celery and green pepper only b/c I don't like either of them and it still turned out good. Thanks for this recipe.

this looks fabulous and my kids LOVE shrimp!!! I don't think I really wanted to know about what made it dirty rice though. ;0) LOL! This sounds much better and I would definitely use ground chicken or turkey. It is just what you like best.

I have made so many of your recipes and have loved almost every one of them. I really appreciate this site and check it everyday. The last couple posted have been pretty high in points (8 or more). With only being allowed 26 points per day you really have to budget!

So excited you're doing cajun recipes!! I have been toying with a chicken and sausage gumbo recipe, but that one is tough to get the points down because of the oil & flour roux! I'm sure you can do it though! This dirty rice looks great and I think I'll try it tonight!! Love your site!

Just made this tonight and I forgot to cook the rice with all of the extra ingredients. so before I mixed it up with the meat mixture I sprinkled some paprika and thyme in it and mixed it up. I am kind of glad I did it this way since it kept it not so spicy but still flavorful. If I weren't serving this to my kids I would have spiced it up more. Maybe some tabasco on the side will do for my husband and I (haven't served it yet). Anyway, I used turkey and it came out great.

I made this tonight minus the shrimp because my boys will not eat this as a main dish so I served it on the side with some grilled tuna steaks. The only thing I changed besides omitting the shrimp was use smoked paprika because it's all I had. It was delicious and it was devoured. Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful and delicious recipes.

Just found your blog for the first time, and this does look very yummy, but I'm curious as to why you think using lean ground beef is healthier than using chicken livers? I see that you've been featured by other sites or magazines, so I know you're respected source for "skinny" recipes, so I would think you would know that chicken livers are healthier than even the leanest beef. A 3.5 oz serving of chicken liver has 172 calories, 6g fat, 26 g protein vs a slightly smaller 3 oz serving of 96% lean beef that has 208 calories, 13 g fat, and 22 g protein. Now if you're just using beef because you don't like liver (which many people don't), then that's a whole other thing entirely. Anyway, like I said, it looks delicious, and I will try it, I just think people should have all the facts. :) I don't have a blog to leave this comment, and I don't want to leave it as Anonymous, so here's my email if you think I'm the one who's misinformed. brinkerbarry@gmail.com

Organ meats such as livers & gizzards may be less in calories but they are high in LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is the bad cholesterol, the one that increases your chance of heart disease & heart attack. Lean ground beef is lower in LDL cholesterol and is therefore healthier than organ meats. Just because calories are lower doesn't mean something is healthier. There are many other factors to consider.

I wanted to make this but we didn't have any ground beef in the house and we're not shrimp people - I decided to swap sausage for ground beef and chicken for shrimp and it was amazing. My husband has claimed all the leftovers as lunch for the rest of the week and is refusing to share.

Made this as directed last night and thought it was fabulous! Hubby tends to like things with a little more liquid/saucy so he thought it was a little dry (he was wrong, lol). To solve his problem he added a bit of tobasco and a bit of smokey salsa. WIN, WIN!!

Just finished this for tonight's dinner. It was delicious. i'm not a big cajun fan, but this was really tasty. The flavor wasn't overpowering at all. I added some hot sauce and hubby and I both had seconds.

Gina- HELP!! Everytime I make brown rice it turns out crunchy, even when following the directions on the pkg to the t. My family is now turned off by brown rice because I have never had it turn out right.. Do you know a trick? Is there a rice I can sub it out for without increasing the point value? Love your recipes BTW!! :) JENNIFER

Made this on Monday for dinner! It was AWESOME!! The only thing I did differently than the original recipe was reduce the rice to 1 cup instead of 1.5. When I plugged the recipe into my WW recipe builder, it ended up at 6 pts per serving (@5 servings)! I will definitely, definitely, definitely be making this again!!

Jennifer - I finally broke down 2 weeks ago and bought a programmable rice maker. I can cook and bake almost anything, but rice. It was the best the best $25 I've spent. It has a setting for both white and brown rice. It comes out perfect every time. If you can spring for Nishiki or Kokuho Rose rice, it tastes just like the sticky rice you get from any Thai restaurant.

Just finished eating this for dinner. It kicks butt. Hope it freezes well as only 2 of us where eating it. It is definitely a keeper and I can't wait to make it for company. The only thing I did differently is cook the rice in no sodium added chicken broth and skipped the high sodium Knorr

I made this last night for my husband (who doesn't like dirty rice) and myself. He inhaled it! One thing I accidentally did was use a whole pound of ground beef but to me, if I hadn't I feel that there would have been too much rice and not enough dirty :) But this was VERY GOOD! I love your recipes! Thank you for doing what you do!

Just made this, it was incredible! I love dirty rice and this turned out perfectly. I tweaked it a bit to suit my tastes and I couldn't stop snacking on it before the rice was finished. Definitely going to be a staple in my house.

made this up last night for dinner and it was awesome ! Will be making this one again and again. I used Ground Red Cayenne Pepper and it was plenty hot for us. Hubby started to add some Hot Sauce - made him taste it first and he agreed it did not need a thing !I started to hold off on the shrimp - but so glad I didn't. Oh man oh man what a great combination !

Gina, this was awesome!!!! My husband who must be the pickest person and will not try anything new, liked it. That is truly saying something. This is not the first recipe I tried and it certainly will not be the last. Thank you.

Okay...another winner!. After trying the Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Breasts which turned out fantastic by the way, this Dirty Brown Rice & Shrimp was second on my agenda to prepare- this was excellent, perfect amount of spices, my boyfriend loves spicy food, likes to add the hot sauce on most anything..but he didn't need to with this dish..."hallelujah"!. Thanks again Gina.

Holy Crap! I'm literally eating this right now and had to grab my laptop. MAKE THIS RECIPE! It is by far the best WW compliant meal I've ever made. My fiance and I totally just housed our serving and are full and satisfied.

Made this tonight and my husband absolutely loved it. I thought it was very tasty as well. A very hearty dish and filling for 9 points plus. Will be making it again. Followed the recipe almost exactly- just substituted mushrooms for the green pepper- because I don't like green pepper. The mushrooms added great flavor!I also made the rice in my rice maker which made things easy. Thanks Gina :)

I'm pretty sure I've commented on this already, but I just made this recipe for the 4th or 5th time. It is hands down one of the best WW compliant recipes I've ever been able to find online. It satisfies almost every craving I have.... Meet, Cajun food, Seafood and it is FILLING! Plus it heats up well for leftovers that I dont ever get sick of. If there is one suggestion I can make to people, it would be to NOT use instant brown rice, even if its not boil in the bag. I've tried it both ways and the longer cook time brown rice comes out way more flavorful because it has more time to cook w the spices and the bouillon.

Thank you for posting this recipe and running this site in general. My fiance and I have lost about 20 lbs each by cooking your recipes almost exclusively for dinner. Keep up the good work!

Just made this delicious dish for dinner and it was a huge hit in my house! I left out the cayenne though as my kids are not into hot and spicy :) Was still fabulous! Will definitely make this again! Family approved!

Had this for dinner tonight and I think it is my new favorite Skinnytaste recipe! Glad that I read the comment about using regular brown rice and not instant....well worth the extra cooking time. I also used chicken broth instead of water and bouillon cube as was suggested. Great spicy taste and very filling!! So glad I tried this one!

I am very big on eating healthy and this brown rice and shrimp is perfect after my morning workouts. I also found a spinach artichoke recipe to compliment this rice in by diet plan. The cajun twist to this healthy meal is what I love most.

Liver and gizzards are unhealthy? News to me! Wish I'd known that when I was a child and my mom forced me to eat those chewy leathery meats. Though as an adult not overcooking them I have grown fond of iron-rich organ meats.

May I suggest a great way to cook long grain brown rice. It is a Alton Brown recipe and it works perfectly every time. It will not be "crunchy" as someone noted.

Preheat oven to 375 f. For this recipe using 1 1/2 C uncooked brown rice, boil 2 1/2 C cooking liquid (depending on what goes with the rice I use part water, part stock) along with seasoning ingredients. The ratio of rice to liquid is 3:5. In a oven proof casserole with lid, mix the hot liquid with the rice, cover, and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and fluff with a fork to separate grains.

This looks amazing! I love cajun food, and I try to bring spice to my diet as much as possible, as I know it helps with reducing inflammation from my running. As an elite athlete I try to make my diet as varied as possible, and need to include more shrimp, this would be great! Thanks for the recipe!

Fabulous! Used the long cooking brown rice and now I am a convert! Tossed out the quick cooking stuff. Great recipe! A keeper! I used 1/2 pound ground chicken, because that is what I had on hand. Will not hesitate to throw in a whole pound!

I am trying to get more into meal planning to help cut down on time spent in the kitchen. This is on my meal plan for this week and I was wondering how it tastes the next day? Some dishes are better the day after and I would love to make ahead some of my meals. This is on the menu for tomorrow but wouldnt mind starting today. Also do you think it would freeze well? I like to freeze left overs in small portions to take out for a lunch etc. Thanks!

To answer your question about prepping ahead of time, that is exactly what I did for this recipe. I washed and chopped the onion, celery, and pepper and put them into a zip-loc bag. I also measured out the spices (for both steps) and put into little food prep containers that I have.Then, when I get home from work, all I have to do is assemble. All the cleaning, chopping, and measuring are already done!

I tend to do this for most of my weeknight recipes. I prep everything on Sunday when I have more time.

Amazing dish! I made this last night and even my food snob husband was impressed! Only thing he added was garlic powder! For leftovers, I cut the shrimp in pieces and put 1/2 a serving in a green pepper bowl (the whole serving would have probably fit in a whole green pepper easily). Oh my goodness this was so good! I've lost a total of 55 pounds with WW, but currently I am stalled in a plateau, but your recipes help keep myself in check and the weight off! I gave your website to all my friends on instagram LOL ! Thank you so much Gina!

I made this tonight! It was fantastic! I only had small celery stalks so I included the tops and the leaves - gave it a nice taste. I would make this again and not change a thing. Now I have to find a recipe to use the other 1/2 # of meat I defrosted. :)

I am making this for the second time as we speak. My husband LOVED it the first time I made it and has asked me several times to make it again! I will be having a few friends over for dinner and this will definitely be on the menu! So glad I found this website!

holy cow, what did I do wrong? I made this last night and all I could taste was the chili powder. I double checked to be sure I had read the recipe right and I had.The taste was just mediocre and then the Chili pepper drowned out everything else. Everyone else's review says this is tasty, so I figure i must have done something wrong, but I wasn't overly excited about the flavors in it.

Gina I made this last night per recipe and it was outstanding! I am enjoying your website and have your chicken taco chili in the crock pot today. I am trying to lose weight and don't want to go on a crazy diet so I am trying out your recipes. Thank you for so many of them to chose from!

Gina, can this be made as directed and then frozen to heat up and serve later? I am doing a freezer cooking day and have pulled this recipe to make- again! We made it once before and it was delicious and loved it! Wondering this time if I could freeze it? thank you!